Knitting at the Berks

Those of you who attended this year’s Berkshire Conference may have noticed a small cadre of us knitting while listening to sessions. I had intended to bring my digital camera to capture all the creativity that was going on around me, but since I’m an air-head, on Lamictal which makes me more of an air-head, I forgot to bring it with me. So, I’ve substituted the photo above from an American Experience documentary. Apparently, ER used to knit in UN meetings, not just in the privacy of the White House. So, the next time someone gives me a hard time for knitting in Senate or some other faculty meeting, I’ll dig out this key fact.

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Berks president Ruth Karras is a famous knitter. Her apartment in Minneapolis is decorated with gorgeous skeins of yarn and works in progress! So if there was ever a conference for knitting, this was it.

A few weeks ago I presented a paper at a regional history conference. There was a knitter in the audience. Before the panel began, the chair told me and the other presenter that a famous knitter once challenged and demolished his paper at the AHA. The story made me wary of the knitter.

The knitter continued to knit throughout the session. Then, during the Q & A, she stopped to ask me a very nice question. Now, I’m no longer wary of the knitters.